First 10 weeks with my GV650

[Bronski]

Had the GV650 for about 10 weeks now. Despite some electrical niggles, I’m loving it 😀 It suits my style of riding perfectly and has revitalised my love of riding.

I’m not known for washing my bikes often, but the GV is getting polished regularly 🙂 I’m slowly replacing various nuts and bolts with stainless ones, for a bit of bling but also to, hopefully, make future maintenance trouble free.

I’ve added a volt meter and LED running lights, both connected through a HealTech Thunderbox. The Thunderbox isn’t cheap, but it makes attaching new gadgets a breeze and no need to hack into the loom to connect anything. As it’s my daily ride, I’ve also added a luggage rack. I normally put a top box on my bikes, however I couldn’t bring myself to ruin the look of this bike with one.

The niggles?
1. Charging wasn’t great, I tried a new rectifier regulator, then a new stator, but it still refused to charge more than a maximum 12.5 volts. Eventually I wired the regulator/rectifier direct to the battery (with an inline fuse), and it’s now charging in the high 13 volt range. Must have been losing some voltage through the loom.

2. The starter button broke at the hinge in the switchgear. You may have seen my post looking for a replacement switchgear. Judging by the number of left-hand switches available second hand and the right-hand switch being as rare as hens teeth, I guess problems with them are common. Had one on order from one of the “direct from Korea” websites for over two months and still no joy, “waiting for delivery from the factory”. Meanwhile, I’ve rewired the starter, kill and hazard lights switches to a temporary three button switch on the handlebars:

 

I bought the GV knowing that I might have work to do on the electrics, so no major surprises yet.

I do hate the location of the ignition switch but that is my only real grumble. Remote start via an alarm may be my next job…

[♠️ MARCEL]

I would not wish for any major surprises! The fact its working well,  despite the right switch woes but looks like you already figured it out! – I would have said an ugly alternative was to shoehorn in a momentary push switch inside the RH cluster.

Have you considered the shingden upgrade kit that you see on this shop? I would never use the OEM or Aliexpress type regulators on these electrically hungry beasts , no way , i have seen time and time again they love to fry their connectors and melt wires.  If its an EFi machine, even more stressing to use a genuine shingden upgrade with a fresh stator kit.  Your volt gauge will be reporting a consistant 14.4v

// Meditation doesn't mean you have to sit still....

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